


Mommy Bonding Time

by inamamagic



Category: Jane the Virgin (TV)
Genre: Canon Divergence, F/F, Mateo Villanueva (mentioned), Rafael's POV, The twins have been born
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-30
Updated: 2016-01-30
Packaged: 2018-05-17 04:52:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5854906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inamamagic/pseuds/inamamagic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rafael finds himself wondering where the mothers of his children keep vanishing off to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mommy Bonding Time

An odd thing begins to happen after the twins turn one. Not that odd things don’t happen at the Marbella. It’s just that, after Magda being locked away and the whole mess with Sin Rostro and Mütter having moved far beyond the boundaries of the hotel, Rafael was hoping for some normalcy again.

Unfortunately, it’s looking a lot like normalcy is a luxury he is unlikely to experience any time soon.

If he really concentrates, he’s almost certain that this – this ‘disappearing act’, began on the twins’ birthday. The one time when both Jane and Petra were supposed to be present, but midway through the party, Rafael had found himself with three children, and no mothers.

Sure, they’d shown up by the time the first guests had begun to leave, dodging his questions by talking over him about preschool waiting lists and the merits of homemade versus store bought baby food. Rafael was only allowed to join the conversation when he’d begun to talk about the children too.

He’d brushed it off as a coincidence then. After all, the ballroom had been massive, and there’d been nearly a hundred guests in attendance. Unlike on Mateo’s first birthday, which they’d held in his apartment. The guest list there had been closer to fifty. Jane and Petra had both been present – but then again, if he _really_ thinks about it… yes… there had been an hour… just under an hour probably, where the both of them were very much absent.

Rafael stops in his tracks in the hallway and frowns. So they’d disappeared together on Mateo’s birthday, _and_  on Anna and Ellie's birthday – and they’d recently developed a habit of dropping all three of them off at Rafael’s at once. Not that he was complaining. Their logic was sound. He was their common link, so it made sense that the majority of their sibling bonding time fell on his days.

It’s just that, looking after three kids on his own? It’s starting to get a little exhausting.

Which is why he is on his way to talk to Petra about the possibility of splitting days with Jane.

He knocks on the door of her office and waits. In all fairness, he probably shouldn’t be complaining. Jane and Petra seem to be getting along fabulously well these days, even going as far as to go shopping together every now and again (although neither one of them seem to buy anything, ever).

Co-parenting is so much easier when all the adults involved get along. It makes family dinners an actual possibility, and he certainly isn’t stretched as thin as he’d been in the early days of Petra’s pregnancy.

Rafael chuckles quietly. Jane and Petra actually being friends. Who would’ve thought they’d ever see that day? He could’ve sworn that pigs would’ve flown before that happened.

There is no answer. Rafael knocks again, this time a little louder, and hears what seems to be a crash and a loud swear. He frowns.

“Petra?” he calls. “Is everything okay?”

There is a muffled scrambling sound and Petra opens the door.

“Rafael,” she says smoothly, though there is a pink flush on her neck and two bright spots on her cheeks. Her hair is messier than usual, and she’s breathing heavily.

Rafael’s frown deepens.

“Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, of course they are,” says Petra, putting a hand on her hip, her voice cool and clear. “Anything I can help you with?”

“Uh, yeah, I was wondering,” Rafael starts, but then he stops. Petra is still blocking the doorway. “Can I come in?”

She huffs and rolls her eyes. “Oh, if you must.”

She opens the door a little wider and Rafael walks inside – only to freeze when he finds Jane lounging on the couch, reading a magazine and trying to look as relaxed as possible.

“Hey, Rafael,” she says with a big smile.

Rafael notices that the magazine is upside down.

“Hi, Jane,” he says, looking at Petra, and then at Jane, and back to Petra again. “Um, am I interrupting something?”

“Huh?" says Jane. "Oh no, no, nooo. Pshh, you weren’t interrupting.”

“Have a seat Rafael,” says Petra quickly, leaning against her desk, arms folded. Rafael eyes both women warily as he sits down slowly, and then he notices the broken vase.

“What happened?” he exclaims.

“Hmm?” asks Petra. Rafael gestures to the vase, feeling more confused than ever. Jane is still holding her magazine upside down. “Oh. That. Accident.”

“Accident,” repeats Rafael, raising an eyebrow.

“Accident,” says Petra with a quick smile. “So. What did you want to talk to me about?”

It takes a moment for Rafael to remember why he’s actually here, but he realises that this may be a conversation best saved for another time. He notices the disarray on Petra’s usually neat desk, and the fact that the couch cushions are crooked, with the corners all bent in. One of the chairs in front of Petra’s desk is about a foot away from where it needs to be. The magazines on the coffee table are all haphazardly arranged.

Jane is _still_ holding her magazine upside down, and by this point, Rafael is certain that she’s not reading. Her eyes are fixed on a single spot on the page, and her hair is all mussed up. He looks at Petra, who is standing stiffly against her desk, turning redder and redder, her jaw locked as she stares back at Rafael.

“What have you guys been _doing_?” he says finally.

“Just bonding,” says Petra. “Mommy bonding time.”

“Yeah,” pipes up Jane. “We were trading tips.”

“Oh,” says Rafael, determined to catch them out. “Tips on what exactly?”

“Uh, just you know, tips,” says Jane, gesturing wildly as her eyes grow larger.

“Care to specify?” asks Rafael, leaning towards Jane and fixing his eyes on her. Jane blinks and glances at Petra for a second before trying to speak again.

Rafael looks back at Petra, who is trying her best to look nonchalant, but as she brushes her hair over her shoulder, he notices a red blotch on her neck. Frowning, he squints to try and get a better look. Petra raises an eyebrow at him.

“What?” she says.

“Is that –” Rafael stands up and walks towards Petra. A brief flash of fear appears on her face as he examines her neck.

“Is that a hickey?”

Jane swears. A muscle begins to twitch in Petra’s jaw.

“No,” she says. “I got stung.”

“Stung,” says Rafael, who slowly begins to connect the dots. “By someone’s lips by the looks of it.”

And somehow, without meaning to, he turns to Jane, who is hiding behind her magazine. All the disappearances, all the excuses, all the ‘shopping trips’ –

Oh dear god.

Now it’s Rafael’s turn to blush. Taking a few steps away from Petra, he clears his throat.

“I – uh, I’ll leave you to your, um, ‘mommy bonding time’,” he says, making air quotes with his fingers. Petra’s face is impassive, but her eyes give away everything. “I’ll – uh, I’ll come back later,” he says, as he backs away. Jane is peeking over her magazine now, her deep brown eyes watching his ungainly exist.

The magazines in disarray, the couch cushions all crooked – oh god, he'd actually _sat_ on the couch!

“No,” he says quickly, as the image of walking in on a less appropriate scenario enters his mind. “No you know what? I’ll call.”

And with that, he sprints out of the room.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I forgot what Jane does when she lies! I know there was an episode where Michael talks to her about it, but I've completely forgotten! 
> 
> Please feel free to point out any errors in the text. Thanks for reading :)
> 
> (OMG LOL I CAME BACK TO THIS LATER AND REALISED I'D WRITTEN AND PUBLISHED IT BEFORE THE TWINS HAD BEEN NAMED ON THE SHOW - SO THEIR NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED NOW LOL - although Maria and Madelena were nice names lmao I think so anyway)


End file.
